This webzine is online since August 2010 and is completely dedicated to Electronic Music (EM) identified as the Berlin School style and its derived. You will find interviews but mostly reviews of ambient, sequenced and symphonic EM with a glimpse on other related genres. You have questions or want your music to be reviewed? Please read the 123 FAQ section attentively. Bear in mind the main purpose of this Blog. So welcome in and I hope it will guide you into the wonderful world of EM.

Going all over the live performances that Code Indigo gave between spring 2004 and 2006, among them two superb performances at the Leicester National Space Center in England and the prestigious E-Live Festival of Eindhoven in Holland, “In Concert” is a wonderful audio document which addresses as much to the absolute fans of the mythical English group as those who did not still have the chance to discover the group of David Wright and Robert Fox. Surfing mainly on the albums TimeCode (with 6 tracks) and Chill (4 tracks), “In Concert” is a lively album where Code Indigo shows off its influences which oscillate between Pink Floyd, for the psychedelic atmospheres as well as the continual voices and rustles, Mike Oldfield, for the melodious approaches of Songs From a Distant Earth and Enigma for its choruses floating in Gregorian spheres. And the sound quality is astonishing with this 24 Bits mastering which peels and filters all the sound ingredients which roam throughout the rhythms, ambiences and melodies of a live album which amazes as soon as we put our ears full in it. The result is an album amazing of freshness and accuracy, a little as if Code Indigo delivered a remix of his works with a velocity which sweeten the surface of the soul.After an intro decorated by hollow winds, spectral hootings and sound effects of a universe which collapses under the weight of its industries, Andy Lobban's guitar charms our ears with its ethereal bouquet à laDavid Gilmour which cuts through the torments of a dark intro and guides us towards "Code 14". And the magic Code Indigo settles down for the next 155 minutes. With its heavy rhythm, which oscillates between its fluidity and its jerky circles, and harmonic, "Code 14" depicts all the musical delight which hides behind the universe of sound whim of Code Indigo. The synths spread a musical arsenal, where the breaths of Ocarina raise iridescent particles, and is whistling among harmonious lines flutes and Gregorian voices, whereas the guitar spits powerful riffs and solos which tear a structure knocked out by the good percussions programmed by Dave Massey. Heavy and lively, we have difficulty in believing that "Code 14" is mainly centred on an electronic pattern, and Andy Lobban has nothing to envy to the guitar play of Zlatko Perica. "Autumn Fades", out of the last album studio Chill follows. It is a slow, dark and little bluesy track which progresses with a heavy but evasive rhythm where guitars and synths cry in vocalized sails. "Ten Degrees per Second", always out of Chill, plunges us into a universe of agony before running away with a light rhythm. The guitars are wonderful. They sing on a bed of attracting sound effects and arpeggios subtly brilliant where voices, diverse breaths and cradles of mist arouse the curiosity while calming the soul. The group interprets afterward the heart of TimeCode with 5 tracks which begin with the very melancholic "24 am" and its lamentations of mourners trumpets of which the sad sighs float on beautiful chords of electric pianos. After an interlude a bit dramatic with "Galileo" and its Mellotron wings, "TimeCode" assails our ears with its threatening ride which grows its intensity subtly under a spectral choir and streaks of guitar shouting in an ambience filled by mysticism. We swim into the full spheres of Enigma with this track torn between the rhythm of its harmony and its night-atmospheres. Delicate, "Stasis" flows into our ears with the sweetness of its piano notes which are carried by clouds of ether and a seraphic voice. "Eden to Chaos" seizes the concert with infernal breaths and the melodic notes from an e-piano which try a breakthrough on a bed of seething pulsations. The intro becomes heavy and feverish, offering poetry and gravity in a very harmonious symbiosis where violins of Orion caress our hearing which stumbles on a guitar to incisive solos and unforgivable riffs. A little as on "Code 14", "Eden to Chaos" is torn between its oniric ambiences, its heavy rhythm and its seraphic harmonies with an edgy guitar, a bass as solid as powerful and a splendid combination of synths and the very beautiful Celtic voice of Louise Eggerton.And so is taking place a wonderful concert where Code Indigo attacks and charms our senses with a music as well lively as heart-rending where synths and guitars are in perpetual duels on a structure knit by heavy pulsations among which the wriggling and the indomitable oscillations espouse marvellously a game of percussions which is always in the tone. We are in the den of the electronic progressive rock with tracks as puzzling as "Area 52", a novelty which was on the 2006 E-Live EP, the very heavy and sparkling "Uforia", and its Arabian clanic approach, as well as "Cultures", the much Vangelish "Culture Shift" and "Entangledin C" (a very beautiful unedited track on this double live album) and finally the Dantesque "Code 11".As for me; having listening again this double live set this week-end, “In Concert” is a monument of progressive EM. It's a strong concert witness which delivers us a Code Indigo who knew how to fits his moods and rhythms in a musical pattern which takes a whole new dimension with a sensible choice of the tracks. If it's an essential album for the fans of Code Indigo, it is just as much for the non-initiated ones who are going to pass a great 160 minutes where the reminiscences of Pink Floyd abound in a musical universe which is nevertheless everything to its opposite. Far from the tranquillity of the ambient passages of the Berlin School style, the music of Code Indigo is livened up by a soft creative madness which rocks between its soft atmospheric moments, its beautiful e-ballads as well as its passionately rebellious and aggressive touch which call back the glorious years when the progressive and electronic music merged the perfect marriage but with a clearly more organized and melodious approach. This is a wonderful album that will throw you on the ground or will transport you in the clouds but which at no moments will leave you of ice.Sylvain Lupari (March 31st, 2013)Cet article est disponible en Français sur le site de Guts of Darkness, dont je suis chroniqueur sous le nom de Phaedream:http://www.gutsofdarkness.com/god/objet.php?objet=9981

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Qui suis-je

Bonjour!
My name is Sylvain Lupari from Joliette in Quebec (Canada). I’m known as Phaedream all over the Internet since the beginning of 2000 where I started to write reviews. In 2005, I joined the French Webzine Guts of Darkness and on August 2010 I created a Blog, Synth & Sequences, which has reached the point of 1 000,000 visitors on February 2017 where I also wrote my 1354th review. In French and in English, I wrote more than reviews of EM albums.
This Blog is a huge success and reference about the music which sets my mind free over the years. Too many chronicles, so I have to split this Blog in several sections. Robert Schroeder is the first to welcome my thoughts on Webpress.
So, welcome to this part of my Blog Synth&Sequences which is devoted to the music, the tones and sounds of Aachen’s own Robert Schroeder.
Here you will find informations about his career and discography and latest news as well as deep reviews about his music, his albums.
My only wish is to guide you through his impressive career and may I suggest to visit regularly my Blog Synth & Sequences for more updates on EM.